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To be honest, I’m not really obsessed with this topic; at least I’m not paying as much attention to Ubuntu/Canonical’s replacing Jono Bacon as people think I am. But a wide variety of people — from those who consider me detestable scum (single file, folks, one at a time) to those who either are, or think they are, giving me inside information — have not been shy about sharing what they know or what they suspect.

You might think that I would say, “Stop,” but it’s all somewhat interesting, in the same way watching two hockey players converging on a puck near the board is interesting. Interesting, but not terribly important.

But one thing that popped up on the radar late last night/early this morning is that Jono Bacon could be “irreplaceable” in Canonical’s eyes. That is, the scenario presented is that Jono’s position would not be filled, and the “community leader” would be a committee with the newly minted Ubuntu Community Liaison position (previously referred to as the “monkey boy” position) being the go-between between the Inner Party at Canonical and the Outer Party of what’s left of the community.

Draw your own conclusions about how this particular scenario translates to Ubuntu’s commitment to community.

But it’s an interesting scenario, to be sure: Certainly better than the one where Mark Shuttleworth takes over as Community Leader as a cost-cutting move (don’t laugh, that was sent to me as a scenario).

One more thing. To those who laughably think they’re getting a dig in by asking me why I’m not focusing on who’s replacing Robyn Bergeron as the Fedora Project Leader, here’s why I’m not really too concerned about that.

If I were a betting man, my money would be on Tom Callaway to be the next Fedora Project Leader. He is a natural choice, and he’ll be a fantastic choice to lead Fedora, a distro that on every level, in every facet of development and community, does things right.

Remember where you heard it first.

This blog, and all other blogs by Larry the Free Software Guy, Larry the CrunchBang Guy, Fosstafarian, Larry the Korora Guy, and Larry Cafiero, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND license. In short, this license allows others to download this work and share it with others as long as they credit me as the author, but others can’t change it in any way or use it commercially.

(Larry Cafiero is one of the founders of the Lindependence Project and develops business software at Redwood Digital Research, a consultancy that provides FOSS solutions in the small business and home office environment.)

Bryan Lunduke, who can best be described as one of Linux/FOSS’s top raconteurs (though others have described him to me otherwise, unfairly I would say), wrote what can be described as a moving tribute to Jono Bacon wrapped in his look back — and forward — for Ubuntu.

The problem with a glowing tribute wrapped in this kind of subjective analysis, without challenge, is that it likely becomes history when all facts aren’t represented. The most poignant example of why other voices and expanding on facts is necessary: When a story broke a couple of years ago that the computers at CERN run Linux, that overwhelming story somehow became the computers at CERN run Ubuntu, and years from now people could look back and make this fact rather than fiction.

So let’s set the record straight on that one: At CERN, the heavy metal that runs the important stuff runs on Scientific Linux. Higgs Boson was discvered in large part thanks to Scientific Linux, and Ubuntu is not within several light-years of being a factor. And that, friends, is what history should reflect, not the results of a bunch of “gee-whiz” posts saying Ubuntu discovered Higgs Boson.

So it stands to reason that Bryan’s assessment will carry a lot of weight over time, but I’d like to add a footnote or two going forward.

When he writes that “Ubuntu has, over the last several years, captured significant market share, especially in the consumer-oriented Linux space. I would posit that a big reason for that is Jono,” Lunduke hits the bulls-eye. If he does nothing else for the rest of his life, Jono’s accomplishments at Ubuntu would be a huge legacy which many, including me, find awe-inspiring and unequivocally admirable.

However — and you knew that was coming — there’s this, almost in the same proverbial breath: “. . . Mark Shuttleworth (who has acted as a sort of elder statesman for the project, aka “Self Appointed Benevolent Dictator for Life”) and Jono Bacon (who has, in many ways, played the role of the mascot).”

Nope. It should be, ” . . . Mark Shuttleworth (who has acted as a sort of arsonist) and Jono Bacon (who has, in every way, played the role of the fireman).”

Bryan, Shuttleworth a “statesman”? If the synonym for “statesman” is “douchebag,” then again you’re right on target.

Sadly, Bryan has his Wile E. Coyote moment in this piece comes when he compares what I guess is Jono Bacon’s visibility to the leaders of the Fedora Project when he asks, “When you think of, say, Fedora, who do you think of?”

Well, Bryan, I think of Greg DeKoenigsberg, the Fedora Project Leader who got the ball rolling around Fedora Core 5 — as it was called back then — and who is now providing the same outstanding leadership at Eucalyptus. I also think of Max Spevack, who took FOSS leadership to a new level before ending up at Amazon. I think of the steady guidance and innovative changes under the leadership of Paul Frields and Jared Smith, and the cool-headed organizational skills and problem-solving abilities that Robyn Bergeron — the first woman to lead a distro — provided in some of the rough waters she faced during her tenure.

So “when I think of, say, Fedora,” Bryan — or “when I think of, say, Debian or OpenSUSE” — I think of people who get the job done and leave their distro, and the wider FOSS landscape, a better place without monopolizing the limelight or pilfering undue credit. No star value among their ranks, to be sure. Just accomplishments. Arguably, Jono did more for Ubuntu than “be a star,” but when you invite this kind of comparison, Bryan, that’s what you end up with.

Arguably it would appear that Bryan’s point here is that while Fedora, OpenSUSE, Debian and other distros have been doing the heavy lifting for Linux and FOSS, Jono and Ubuntu have been basking in the warm glow of the spotlight.

I would agree with that 100 percent.

Nevertheless, the understudy now becomes the focus: The decision to replace Jono will be a remarkably important one for Canonical to keep whatever momentum they have, despite Shuttleworth’s hubris-based attempts to derail it.

No one with two brain cells to rub together thought for a split second that I’d be replacing Jono Bacon. Apparently, some of you completely missed the satire here. Of course, if they had completely lost it in the upper echelons of Canonical (well, they may have already, but speaking solely on the issue of replacing Jono Bacon) and decided to hire me, it would be my duty to turn them down, and I would. I also would have turned them down if they offered me the applied-for Canonical position of monkey boy to the Community Leader, however for the record Canonical beat me to it, wiping the last tears of laughter from their eyes before writing the standard rejection note, no doubt.

So who should replace Jono?

My choice, and I hope it’s not el beso de la muerte (that’s the kiss of death, to those who don’t speak Spanish) for me to say it, is California LoCo leader Nathan Haines, who I’ve mentioned in an earlier blog post. Again, I have known Nathan for years and he has been an eloquent advocate and steady leader in the California LoCo for quite some time. There are few in FOSS for which I have as much respect as I do for Nathan, and his leadership skills are top-notch. If Canonical misses the chance to hire Nathan as their Community Leader, they should at least — at the ultimate very least — make him the Community Leader’s monkey boy.

But after thinking about it for awhile, my guess is that Jono’s successor will be Alan Pope, Canonical’s engineering manager, podcaster and all-around good guy. He may not be able to play electric guitar as well as Jono Bacon, but he has the right stuff — for example, a likeable demeanor and a knack for diplomacy for starters, and the same ability to perform the same foot-from-mouth extraction that Jono always performed on Shuttleworth. He would be a good fit for Ubuntu.

So the question becomes this: Are we going to see white smoke from the chimneys at Canonical if they elect Pope?

This blog, and all other blogs by Larry the Free Software Guy, Larry the CrunchBang Guy, Fosstafarian, Larry the Korora Guy, and Larry Cafiero, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND license. In short, this license allows others to download this work and share it with others as long as they credit me as the author, but others can’t change it in any way or use it commercially.

(Larry Cafiero is one of the founders of the Lindependence Project and develops business software at Redwood Digital Research, a consultancy that provides FOSS solutions in the small business and home office environment.)

No, I have not lost my mind (assuming I had one in the first place). No, I have neither had a change of heart nor have I turned my coat traitorously in doing what I’m about to tell you.

But yes, I applied on the Canonical web site to replace Jono Bacon as Ubuntu’s Community Leader. Now while I wait for the laughter to die down, and while quite possibly Mark Shuttleworth is laughing himself into a new pair of underwear somewhere on the Isle of Man, I should say that I am serious about my qualifications for this position, as outlined in my resume and cover letter.

No one realizes more than I do that I would need a massive cold front to move into hell rather quickly, freezing it over and providing ideal ski conditions, before I have anything resembling a remote chance for the distant possibility of being mildly considered for this stellar position. I get that, and despite the fact there are others who are qualified who might have an advantage in loyalty to Ubuntu and Canonical, I don’t think my qualifications pale in the least.

But as someone who has praised Ubuntu/Canonical when it was warranted, and pointed out the multiplicity of flaws when they’ve raised their ugly heads, I can say that — agree or not — I have always been honest in my commentary and observations about the distro and its community. Frankly, I don’t care that some consider me a pariah — that for years I’ve been considered by some like the evil wrestler playing havoc on the heroic fan favorite in the ring — because I live to a higher standard that Polonius eloquently nailed in “Hamlet” when he said the following:

“This, above all: to thine own self be true.”

So I don’t find it ironic or hypocritical that I’m applying. Nor do I find it hyperbolic when I say that my qualifications clearly meet and exceed the position being vacated by Jono Bacon. My sincere hope is that the next Ubuntu Community Leader adequately fills Bacon’s humongous shoes — who I think could do that, other than me, follows — and Canonical would be well advised to look outside its ivory tower (and, by the way, it could do worse in not hiring me). I am not a yes-man, and my guess is that Bacon and Mark Shuttleworth are surrounded by them already.

But enough about me.

Jono Bacon’s departure leaves a fairly significant vacuum and there are a few people who, off the top of my head, would excel at this.

If I were Mark Shuttleworth — and he and the Ubuntu Community no doubt regularly breathe a huge sigh of relief that I’m not (as do I, believe me) — I would pay a king’s ransom to Elizabeth Krumbach Joseph, who would absolutely nail it if her community work over the last several years is any indication. She is seemingly tireless in her advocacy and her ubiquity when it comes to being a mainstay at just about every Linux/FOSS event — large or small, whether as a keynoter or a speaker, a booth staffer, or even a speaker to smaller groups — is unparalleled. However, in talking with her this morning, she said she’s happy on the software side of things and wants to stay put.

Pity. Elizabeth has a uniting presence which would serve Ubuntu well during transitional, and arguably difficult, times.

My next draft choice would be Nathan Haines, whom I have known for years and who has been an eloquent advocate and steady leader in the California LoCo for quite some time. Nathan and I have sparred, locked horns, and debated many FOSS/Ubuntu issues over the years, and while we may not ultimately sway each other in the end, he has always been civil and smart in his arguments, and he understands a concept — lost on many — that people can disagree without being disagreeable. There are few in FOSS for which I have as much respect as I do for Nathan, and his leadership skills are top-notch.

Another name that keeps coming up is Mark Terranova. Many might consider Mark as FOSS’s “court jester,” and not being above putting on the Linux penguin suit or the “Beefy Miracle” hot dog suit in the cause of promoting FOSS clearly shows there is no one more passionate than Mark in promoting the open source ideal, both inside and outside the digital realm. What many don’t know about Mark is that he also possesses a wealth of organizational talent to go along with an above-average eloquence behind the podium. Mark’s advocacy has stretched across a matrix of different distros, and that would be a plus in this case.

Chances are Canonical will be hiring from within to fill Jono’s position. My fondest hope is that they pick someone from the wider community, rather than pick someone from the “Inner Party,” to invoke Orwell. I am hoping Nathan and Mark have both applied, and I hope Nathan and Mark are being considered.

And I hope they even pause from laughter momentarily to consider the guy who browbeats them into living up to the lofty FOSS ideal. I would certainly appreciate that.

Oh, before I forget: Here are the hashtags — #TeamMark for discussion about Mark Terranova being Ubuntu’s Community Leader; #NathanTheNewJono for Nathan Haines getting the post; and #TeamLarry for yours truly.

This blog, and all other blogs by Larry the Free Software Guy, Larry the CrunchBang Guy, Fosstafarian, Larry the Korora Guy, and Larry Cafiero, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND license. In short, this license allows others to download this work and share it with others as long as they credit me as the author, but others can’t change it in any way or use it commercially.

(Larry Cafiero is one of the founders of the Lindependence Project and develops business software at Redwood Digital Research, a consultancy that provides FOSS solutions in the small business and home office environment.)

I had written something about last week’s Richard Stallman-Jono Bacon dustup over the weekend, but then realized that it would just be more-of-the-same on a topic upon which too much attention was being spent.

The tl;dr version of what I wrote, and then deleted (you’re welcome), is this:

Richard Stallman — who is a great programmer and thinker, but who exhibited again why he’s not fit for a leadership role in anything — once again threw diplomacy and tact under the bus, even though he is, to a significant degree, right on the shopping lens issue. But shunning Ubuntu, at its core, flies in the face of freedom — people should be free to use whatever they want as an OS, even if it allows others to see what one is doing (though smarter folks would realize how bad this is).

Meanwhile, Jono Bacon — rather than doing the smart thing by ignoring Stallman’s blog post — drags out the tired Ubuntu policy of ad hominem response to any and all criticism, throwing in a FUD accusation for good measure, before — wait for it — offering what he considers an “olive branch.”

Yawn. Wake me up when Ubuntu decides to make the shopping lens issue an opt-in rather than an opt-out.

The best writing I’ve seen on this comes from Benjamin Kerensa in his blog here. So I’ll let Benjamin drive for now while I go take care of some more important things.

This blog, and all other blogs by Larry the Free Software Guy, Larry the CrunchBang Guy and Larry Cafiero, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND license. In short, this license allows others to download this work and share it with others as long as they credit me as the author, but others can’t change it in any way or use it commercially.

(Larry Cafiero is one of the founders of the Lindependence Project and develops business software at Redwood Digital Research, a consultancy that provides FOSS solutions in the small business and home office environment.)

Leave it to Ubuntu/Canonical’s Self-Appointed Benevolent Dictator for Life Mark Shuttleworth to completely ruin a perfectly good release day for Ubuntu 12.10 and its arguably superior derivatives like Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu and Edubuntu.

Don’t take my word for it. I’ll let this article from TechCrunch with the headline “Canonical’s Mark Shuttleworth Tires Of Critics, Moves Key Ubuntu Developments Out Of Public Eye” tell the tale.

Was it something I said?

Of course, there’s something both fundamentally and tragically wrong — bordering on criminally wrong — about any Free/Open Source Software project moving their “developments out of the public eye.” But let’s put that aside for a moment, because Shuttleworth writes in his blog that ” . . . we thought we would extend the invitation to people who trust us and in whom we have reason to trust, to work together on some sexy 13.04 surprises.”

So, not only is Shuttleworth throwing out the FOSS baby with the bath water, he also wants to provide a caste system that either patterns itself after the Inner Party/Outer Party in George Orwell’s “1984,” or takes a page from Orwell’s “Animal Farm” where, to paraphrase, “All developers are equal, but some are more equal than others.”

If you’re an Ubuntu contributor, how can you be sure you’ll be one of “the chosen ones,” and if you’re not, then why not?

To take a step back, the more fundamental question is this: Is this really how a Free/Open Source Software project should conduct itself?

I would say the answer to this question is an unequivocal “no,” and I would also add that, at this point, the direction that Mark Shuttleworth has taken Ubuntu is light-years off course from its original mission.

This goes beyond burying “Linux” on a second- or third-tier page on the Ubuntu site. This clearly goes beyond Shuttleworth’s treating current Ubuntu users as second class citizens while he chases the elusive Holy Grail of converting “the new users.”

This is betrayal.

So while the Ubuntu Apocalypse lines up to march, zombie-like, to take their shots below in the comments, I’d like to ask them to first look in a mirror and ask themselves if this is truly what they bought into when getting involved with FOSS. And while admiring what you see in the mirror, I’d like to offer a solution to right this ship that’s listing under the weight of gross misdirection.

To right this ship, the principled and noble thing to do would be for Mark Shuttleworth to turn over the keys to Ubuntu to Jono Bacon, the Community Manager for Ubuntu, and make Jono the Ubuntu Project Leader. Mark should resign from all Ubuntu community-related posts and concentrate on the corporate side of things, where he excels.

I don’t always agree with Jono, but his commitment to FOSS is nothing short of impeccable, and his commitment to these principles is completely unimpeachable. He has the wisdom and experience to bring Ubuntu back to where it should be.

Though this wouldn’t happen in either Mark’s, Jono’s or my lifetime, it would be a step that would go a long way in restoring my faith in Ubuntu’s commitment to FOSS.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to install Xubuntu 12.10 and put it through its paces.

This blog, and all other blogs by Larry the Free Software Guy and Larry Cafiero, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND license. In short, this license allows others to download this work and share it with others as long as they credit me as the author, but others can’t change it in any way or use it commercially.

(Larry Cafiero is one of the founders of the Lindependence Project and develops business software at Redwood Digital Research, a consultancy that provides FOSS solutions in the small business and home office environment.)

Editor’s note: On a cloudy Monday in Felton, California, Larry Cafiero held a press conference at the solar-powered Felton Fire Station for the purpose of clarifying his departure from the Fedora Project and to dispel any of the rumors that had been flying around regarding this departure.

A transcript of the press conference follows:

Larry Cafiero: (to himself moreso than the press, as he sits down behind a bank of microphones) Okay, let’s light this candle.

LC: Before we start, I have a statement to read and then, obviously, I’ll take questions.

As many of you know, I recently resigned my office as a member of the Fedora Ambassadors Steering Committee (FAmSCo), my position as a Fedora Ambassador mentor and my membership in the Fedora Project. As I had confided in some of the Fedora leadership a few months ago, I had been planning to relinquish much of my responsibilities in Fedora after OSCON in order to pursue other FOSS projects that I will outline later. I had decided recently to advance the date of my departure. Having been a part of the Fedora Project since 2008, I am proud to have served with a number of outstanding individuals, and some not so outstanding, and I still believe that the Fedora Project is the standard by which FOSS projects should be judged. I am still a Fedora user, first and foremost, despite no longer being part of the project.

I’ll be glad to take questions now.

Reporter: A blog called the Fifth Pillar speculates that you’ll be doing a variety of work with other projects — OMGUbuntu and Gentoo to name two. Even the possibility of drumming for Jono Bacon’s band Severed Fifth was mentioned. Any truth to these rumors?

LC: I saw that blog item by my good friend Mark Terranova. No, there is no truth to any of those rumors, though truth be told I think I could jam with Jono and, probably unknown to Mark, I do play the acoustic Theremin in various folk jam bands. As for Gentoo, that’s a joke since it’s known far and wide that I’ve never been able to get that distro to run since I started using Linux in 2006.

Ultimately, it’s my fault that these rumors got started. One of the things I want to apologize for is how I handled notifying people about my departure, because I really fumbled it badly. To be honest, I didn’t think my departure would matter to anyone outside of those who had an administrative interest in my leaving — those who needed to reassign my duties and replace me on FAmSCo. But apparently a lot of other people who I should have told felt they were left in the dark. While I don’t mean to sound egotistical, I did get a lot of “Hey, what happened?” e-mails after resigning, and I want to apologize to those who were wondering what was going on.

If I had a chance to do it over again, I would have contacted more people to let them know my plans. But here we are, with the barn door open and the horse prancing in the field.

Reporter: To follow up on this one, in the OMGUbuntu graphic, it has you as Yoda calling Mark Shuttleworth a “clown.” Does this reflect your dislike for Shuttleworth or Ubuntu?

LC: No. I don’t dislike Mark Shuttleworth or Ubuntu. Let me give you the short- and long-versions behind this aspect of the story. I made a comment on Facebook on a photo of Linux Pro Magazine’s associate publisher Rikki Kite with Mark Shuttleworth to the effect of, “Nice picture, Rikki, but who’s that clown next to you?” Or something like that. Mostly harmless, and completely tongue-in-cheek. I think Mark Terranova ran with that, referring to a dust-up I had last year with many Ubunteros and Mark Shuttleworth over a blog item I wrote about pointing out another item regarding how much — or actually, how little — Canonical/Ubuntu contributes back to the community in the way of technical support, as well as Mark Shuttleworth’s response to my blog posting.

Because I am critical of some aspects of Ubuntu does not mean I dislike it, or the community. I have used Ubuntu in the past and my daughter is an Ubuntu user. I would say I have differences of opinion on some aspects of how things are done in Ubuntu — regarding how LoCos promote a “separate but equal” policy in keeping LUGs at arm’s length, for example — but I appreciate, deeply appreciate, Canonical and Ubuntu’s artesian contribution to the promotion — the promotion — of Linux. However I don’t think this gives them a pass when their contributions back to the kernel development, for example, are woefully lacking. In other words, I don’t tell the emperor he’s got great clothes when he’s wearing nothing at all.

Also, I like Mark Shuttleworth and I think he’s an interesting guy. Anyone who puts his efforts to the degree that Mark does behind FOSS is OK with me, to say the least. Besides, he’s been to space. The closest I’ve been to space is a Grateful Dead concert.

Reporter: You mention other FOSS project you’re planning to work on. Which are they?

LC: I’ve been working on the Southern California Linux Expo for the last few years, and I want to devote more time to doing press work for it. I think SCALE has the potential to eclipse OSCON as the premiere West Coast Linux event. Also, I am jump-starting the Lindependence Project, and we’ll hold another Lindependence event like we did in 2008 in Felton — only it will be held in conjunction with Software Freedom Day instead of on Independence Day.

One more thing: I have a Facebook app I am working on called Lifeville — so far, it’s a simple script that, when you click on the start button, brings up a message that says: “Real life exists beyond this screen. Your computer is now shutting down. Go outside.” It’s GPLed and CC-licensed.

Reporter: I wonder if you can comment on this line taken from your statement — “some not so outstanding” — meaning, I assume, some people you may have had disagreements or friction with in the Fedora Project.

LC: Yes, I can, and thank you for bringing that up. So much for slipping that under the radar (laughter). Clearly, when you have a group that’s as big as the Fedora community, not everyone is going to be dancing in unison around the proverbial May pole. With strong personalities comes strong disagreements — this is clearly a part of the process.

But since FUDCon, I have felt that there has been some discord in the project that has fostered a lot of ill will. One example of this is a movement started in Europe around “give back our distro” or something along those lines which, personally, I thought was a pitch in the dirt that a lot of Fedora folks who should know better were swinging at. Now I don’t mind disagreeing, but I do mind having people be disagreeable, and those who know me know that, when provoked, I can be disagreeable with the best of them; Olympic-caliber disagreeable. I have to plead guilty to provoking some of the ill-feeling that this issue has fostered, and I am sorry about that. As a part of the leadership at the FAmSCo level, it was probably unacceptable for me to take such a strong stand against against this, despite how stupid I thought it was, and still think it is.

I think, too, there is a degree of burnout involved in my resignation, but much of that burnout was borne of having to do my duties and also participating in this discussions/debates/arguments that took a lot of valuable time and a lot of effort away from what I, and others, should have been doing.

Reporter: So in other words . . .

LC: I’m sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to add one more thing to this in order to give this a clearer context. As I mentioned in the statement, I believe that the Fedora Project does things right, whether it’s engineering an outstanding distro every six months or whether it’s promoting it through an Ambassador program that wrote the textbook on promoting a distro, or a Design team that is second to none. A great part of that is the solid community that drives Fedora, despite a handful of malcontents, and much of the credit can be given to Red Hat for their outstanding support. When a billion-dollar company like Red Hat “gets it” — that is, understands how FOSS works and how they clearly benefit from it — it provides a perfect symbiosis between Red Hat and the Fedora Project where those who are working in the Fedora Project reap the benefits of this relationship.

Reporter: Do you see yourself going back to the Fedora Project at any time in the future, or do you think that you’ll catch on with another distro or FOSS program?

LC: I’d gladly return to the Fedora Project at some time in the future and, as I mentioned, I’m still primarily a Fedora user. One of the things that I’d also like to explore is being a community leader/organizer — or, like Red Hat’s Karsten Wade, a “community gardener” — for a project that I believe in. But while my resume sits on the runway should something in this area come up, I’m still immediately focused on Lindependence and SCALE at the moment.

(Silence follows, with no further questions forthcoming).

LC: OK, so thank you all for coming, and thank you for staying awake.

(Larry Cafiero runs Redwood Digital Research in Felton, California, and is an associate member of the Free Software Foundation. He is also one of the founders of the Lindependence Project.)

[Note: I wrote this in the LXer.com forum in response to Jeff Hoogland’s blog posting on #fedora that was linked to LXer.com. I did spell out “asshat” below, where I did not do that in the forum posting. Jeff’s blog item is here, and I would invite everyone to read it first before reading my response below. Or not. It’s up to you. Also, I fixed the link to the Eric Raymond/Rick Moen tome that’s worth a read as well.]

Truth in advertising disclaimer: Many of you already know that I have been an active participant in the Fedora Project for several years; for those of you who don’t, that secret is now out (and, man, do I feel relieved admitting it!). I have also been a regular in many IRC channels, both Fedora and non-Fedora related, though I am not a regular in #fedora — in fact, I avoid #fedora for the same reasons Jeff outlines in his self-proclaimed “rant.”

That said, Jeff accurately points out a situation that has been a sticking point, and one that is being addressed and corrected, in the Fedora Project around the types of caustic responses that sometimes come up in #fedora. Also, while I don’t frequent the channel and usually find answers to my questions elsewhere — a good practice (and more on this later) — I can say that it’s something that has caused some of us in the Fedora Project some concern.

However — and you knew that was coming — just as an observation on my part, it appears Jeff shot from the hip on this one rather than giving it some thought before writing.

Believe me, I am not casting the first stone against this “sin” — I speak from experience here: lots of experience in which I have fired off unretractable words that a walk in the redwoods or shooting a few hoops would have tempered into something more reasonable and justifiable.

So, Jeff, with apologies, I think your blog goes over the top in the following ways:

a.) #fedora has not cornered the market in asshats by any stretch of the imagination, despite our mutual experience in this particular channel. The cantakerous tards who have an inflated self-worth exist in most IRC channels in every distro across the board — maybe not in Bodhi, if their leader has any say in it (I sincerely hope) — but I think it’s more the nature of things like how IRC operates as well as a wake-up call for the need for change, positive change, in this regard.

b.) It’s a little myopic to judge the performance of a distro by the people “representing” it (and, arguably, any bad experience in any distro-related IRC channel does not accurately reflect the community as a whole, but rather reflects personality flaws in those responding to questions, regardless of whether they’re chanops or not). If that were the case, I would never, ever, EVER use PCLinuxOS, since I have had the same experience seeking information from them that we have had with Fedora (and I do have a box in the lab with PCLOS).

c.) An aside: When I first started using Linux, I was told to read this tome by Eric S. Raymond and Rick Moen: “How to Ask Questions the Smart Way” which lives here:

(You may have to copy/paste the link above — there is no space before the ~ though each posting insists on inserting one)

Why this isn’t a README in all distros is a mystery, but it should be. I am not suggesting that Jeff asked the wrong question here, but often times questions are not asked in the most efficient or direct way. But as Jeff points out in his blog, we don’t know the circumstances that the user is facing in finding out an answer, but it does help immensely to ask the right question. Immensely.

d.) Another aside: I can’t imagine Jared Smith of Fedora or Jono Bacon of Ubuntu firing off a rant like this. As a project leader for what I think is an up-and-coming distro, I hope you understand, Jeff, that as a project leader, you’re in the bigs now and what you say and do reflect on your project for better or worse.

For those of you who have gotten this far, thanks for staying awake. I’ll now put on my Nomex and feel free to flame away.

(Fedora ambassador Larry Cafiero runs Redwood Digital Research in Felton, California, and is an associate member of the Free Software Foundation. He is also one of the founders of the Lindependence Project.)